Reply by bunkie

I’m not sure a splitter would have made any difference in this case as the riving knife was in place. I’m guessing (and this is just a guess), from the description that the workpiece was actually slightly past the blade and in trying to push it further, Eric got it slightly askew and the corner of the piece made contact, causing the blade to grab it and throw it forward.

Splitters and riving knives help when the workpiece closes around the blade. With plywood, this almost never happens. What does happen is that the workpiece comes slightly away from the fence and near the back end of the blade, it doesn’t take very much for the launch to begin.

This is why I always use my blade guard when cutting plywood. The anti-kickback pawls on it exist for this very reason.

Eric, that push stick likely saved your hand. Had you been using your fingers to guide the piece, your hand might very well have been pulled back into the blade (another good reason to use the blade guard). I’m glad to hear that you weren’t seriously hurt.